2 Get Head Start At Pizza Playpen

Preschool Program Leaves Behind Tots

WILLIAMSBURG — Martina and her cousin Anthony had such a ball: They got to stay at Chuck E Cheese's pizza parlor and indoor playground longer than anyone else.

About eight hours longer. And without adults looking after them. And they got to stay up after midnight, too.

Five-year-old Martina Mayo and four-year-old Anthony Mayo of James City County were among a group of children taken to Chuck E Cheese's in Hampton by the Head Start preschool summer program July 25.

The bus picked up 34 Williamsburg-area children at about 9:30 a.m. The bus left Chuck E Cheese's at about 2 p.m. with 34 children aboard, said Marsha McLean, summer program coordinator.

And yet the Mayo cousins were still in the restaurant, playing.

The final head count indicated the correct number of children were on the bus because two other children were driven to Chuck E Cheese's by their parents to join the Head Start group and ride back on the bus, McLean said.

When the restaurant crowd began to thin at about 9 p.m. - seven hours after the bus left - Chuck E Cheese's manager Jeffreia Moore became suspicious that the children were unattended. About an hour later, she got a phone call about them, she said.

``When I found out they were missing, I brought them in the back with me,'' said Moore, 24.

The children were not bothered by their plight. They had played the entire time and had plenty to eat, Moore said.

Martina and Anthony had happily played ski ball and video games and were in and out of the ``ball crawl'' netted area, she said.

``They weren't scared,'' said Anthony's dad, James Teasley. ``They're smart. They knew what had happened.''

``Martina told Anthony not to worry. They were in a fun place,'' he said. ``How could they be upset? They were having such a good time.''

At one point, Anthony wondered when it was time to go. ``I told him we would go home in a minute,'' said Martina. The pair then resumed playing, she said.

The families didn't notify Head Start that the children were missing until 10 p.m. because they figured they were safe with Head Start program teachers, said the girl's mother, Angela Mayo, 26. She said she attended Head Start as a child and placed a great deal of confidence in the program.

But by 10 p.m., she was worried. She called police and the program director.

A family friend called Chuck E Cheese's and learned that the two children were still there, said Mayo, who lives on Pocahontas Trail. Chuck E Cheese's closes at 11 p.m. on Saturdays.

As soon as Head Start program director Jacqueline Gardner learned that the children were at Chuck E Cheese's, she went there to pick them up herself, McLean said.

The Mayos didn't get home until about 12:30 a.m., their parents said.

The Head Start program teachers, who double as bus drivers, on the Chuck E Cheese's trip were reprimanded after the mix-up, McLean said. Next time, they will not only count children, they'll check names, she said.